GOP Candidates Won't Release Tax Returns

Barack Obama made a point of releasing his tax returns to the public while running for president in 2007 and 2008—and when running for the Senate before that. But not one of the candidates vying to face him in 2012 will promise to do the same, Politico has found—except for Donald Trump, and he says he’ll only do it if Obama coughs up a birth certificate.

Most candidates told Politico they would only commit to making the minimum legal financial disclosures, which include a list of income sources and ballpark asset estimates. Mike Huckabee added that he’d released his tax returns while running for governor in 2001 and regretted it. “I was naïve enough to think … that I would be applauded,” he said. “All I did was hand over fodder for people in the print media and political opponents who like to file ethics complaints.”